AsktheBuilder.com Issue #1224 (I think)

March 12, 2023

Dear ,

You might be a new subscriber. 

You're a hot mess because you've been abused by a builder or remodeler. Bad advice from countless hobby blogger wanna-be home improvement sites has cost you thousands of dollars. Your search for trustworthy human knowledge that can save you time and money has left you helplessly hoping. 

Fortunately, days ago, you found me.

Put on your safety glasses and grab your hat. We're going on a journey.

Our next stop...  

the Ask the Builder Home Improvement Zone

Click HERE for the full experience. Thanks, Rod!

I only live for the day but I'm one day behind.

Let's get started.

Spoiler Alert: Do NOT miss Angel's story below.

Sub-Zero Repairwoman/man?

Are you an experienced Sub-Zero repair person? Do you know about error codes on this model? IC-27R

It's a 700-2 Tall series manufactured about 14 years ago.

If so, I'd like to talk with you ASAP.

Renee in Perth

Several days ago I did a video consult call with Renee and her husband. They live in Perth, Australia and are thirteen hours ahead of me in central New Hampshire. It was 6:30 AM in the morning there and 5:30 PM in central New Hampshire the previous day! When you live in Perth or anywhere in Australia, you're in the future!

Renee had stumbled across my past column about true whitewash and my other one that had the secret time-tested whitewash recipe in it.

Her first attempt to apply my recipe was a huge success. She coated an exterior brick wall. It looks remarkable to this day.

But a little over a year ago, she and her hubby, who's a painter, decided to whitewash the interior brick walls of there home. Months later it started to peel and flake and Renee called me in to perform the autopsy.

Cutting to the chase, Renee and her husband picked the worst time to apply the whitewash. It was blistering hot, over 100 degrees F.

They mixed too much whitewash at once. She told me it took them four hours to use up the first batch. They had to ADD water multiple times as the whitewash hardened in the wheelbarrow.

This is a HUGE MISTAKE. You should never re-temper(add water and stir) whitewash, concrete, brick mortar, etc. You break apart the crystal bonds that have been forming since you added the original water to the powder!

I shared with Renee exactly how to remedy the problem. If you need help with a project, let's you and I do a video call for goodness sake.

Oh, at the end of the call I showed Renee and her family a live shot of frozen Lake Winnisquam and the 8-foot-tall pile of snow along my front sidewalk. Her two grade-school girls have never experienced snow and were amazed to see it on a live video call! The wonders of today's technology that I can do a video call halfway around the world!

Yes, that's Mt. Carter as of March 6, 2023. If I were ambitious, I'd create a snow tunnel from the sidewalk side of the mountain to the driveway side so Willow the dog has a shortcut to her canine rest area.

If anything in this newsletter helps save you time, money, or makes you feel warm and fuzzy, maybe you want to reciprocate and buy me a popover & a cup of coffee? That would be appreciated!

Or, you could buy me a raffle ticket and come join me for a week of ham radio in the Caribbean! If you don't want to do radio, you can just go to the beach. Go here to purchase the raffle ticket.

Willow the Wolf Dog

How many times in the past year have you heard me talk about the Game of Thrones book series? I know, lots. This book series was part of the reason Kathy and I purchased Willow. Here's a short video of Willow just before we got another 14 inches of snow. She LOVES loping through snow thinking she's a gazelle on the savannah.

Early in book one, you're introduced to Dire wolf pups. This is an extinct canine. Once Game of Thrones became mainstream, the interest in domesticated dogs that look like wolves shot up faster than the 10-gallon pot of water in the back alley of Skyline Chili when we dropped an M-80 into it.

If you want to discover the TRUTH about wolf dogs, I suggest you subscribe to this new Wolf Dog YouTube channel and start watching the new videos that will soon start to appear on a regular basis.

If you want your own docile and calm dog like Willow that doesn't have dangerous wolf DNA in it, you should reach out to Jennifer and Jay. They have pups available RIGHT NOW and the best part is they deliver them to your home in person! GO HERE and be prepared to be amazed.

Penny & Jack

Two days ago I was on the phone with Penny & Jack. They live in Columbus, Ohio. One would think hiring a reputable plumber, that was how they described him, would produce a favorable trouble-free outcome.

After all, replacing a toilet on a scale of one to ten in the plumbing world has a difficulty rating of 1.5. Seriously, it's simple to do.

Here's some context. Penny and Jack's house was built in the 1950s. That's seventy years ago. My math guesstimate shows their old toilet was sat on just under 128,000 times. It NEVER wobbled in all these years. It was like the rock of Gibraltar.

The plumber left their home and the new toilet wobbled and hours later the bathroom was filled with sewer gas.

They called the plumber back. He arrived with a tool bag full of excuses.

Excuses are reasons for FAILURES in case you don't know it. When you fail at a task or don't meet a deadline, you make EXCUSES.

He left the second time and the toilet still wobbled and there was still sewer gas.

Penny was desperate for my help. After three minutes on the phone I couldn't hold back. "You hired an IDIOT. He doesn't know the first thing about how to set a toilet."

Here's how SAD it's become.

Each week my Ask Tim inbox is OVERFLOWING with stories like this. Simple jobs and tasks where homeowners like YOU hire professionals(?) who achieve unsatisfactory outcomes.

While you may think the ROOT CAUSE is poor workmanship, you're 80% of the way there. 

The other 20% is TRUST. 

You're HOPING AND TRUSTING the contractor is going to do the job right.

STOP DOING THIS. STOP IT NOW!

STOP TRUSTING CONTRACTORS!

Yes, hindsight is 20/20. I get that. 

What could Penny and Jack have done differently? There are two things that come to mind.

#1. They could have come to my website and read this column about how to install a toilet. They should have done this BEFORE they called a professional. They would then know the questions to ask the plumber to see if he knows the RIGHT THING TO DO.

 #2. Penny and Jack could have had me call them BEFORE they even hired a plumber. I would have armed them with the questions to ask so they didn't hire an IDIOT.

Angel's Story

First Facts: Sixteen months ago you're 26 years old. You've got three small mischievous boys swirling around you after you get home each day from your full-time job.

There's a huge unfinished attic above the second floor of your home that could become a delightful playroom.

Your only building experience up until this time is banging together a few bed frames for your boys.

Then you decide to do this one weekend:

What gave Angel the confidence to cut this massive hole in her roof?

What do you think the outcome was? 

I thought you'd never ask. GO HERE and then respond to me with the answer to this question:

Do you have the courage Angel had? If so, why not?

That's enough for a Sunday.

If you need to talk with me you have two choices:

Try 603-867-5309. If you get a funky message then go here to set up the call.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

APRS Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. 

I can fix lots of things but not broken hearts or shattered egos.